About SXSW Music

The South by Southwest Music and Media Conference (SXSW) is a six-day event held every March in Austin, celebrating 30 years in 2016. Look back on 30 Years of SXSW below.

The conference offers unmatched access to ideas and global viewpoints on an increasingly borderless industry. It aims to educate and inspire musicians and professionals alike, with sessions attended by over 30,000 registrants and showcasing artists.

A large multi-industry trade show exhibition, Music Gear Expo and daytime stage performances round out the day while evenings are devoted to the SXSW Music Festival, which showcases over 2,200 acts ranging from the unsigned to the iconic.

SXSW 1987

“All in all, an impressive beginning for SXSW and a sturdy groundwork on which to build a balanced conference tradition - level-headed, sober discussion countered with six or seven hours worth of the real live thing.”

SXSW 1988

"There's a young, fresh, cheeky glow of self-assurance emanating from the Texas music capitol in the aftermath of this year's music and media conference....thanks to Austin and South By Southwest, the entire region is off and running behind the force of its new-found respect from the industry.”

SXSW 1989

"They gave a big party in Austin over the weekend - a musical free-for-all schmooze session better known as the third annual South by Southwest regional Music and Media Conference - and darn near everybody came.”

SXSW 1992

“...the unconventional convention of choice...integrity and originality won out over commercialism and formula. SXSW draws bigger names, a broader scope of talent and more influential industry types every year, but it still maintains an unpretentious atmosphere.”

Film & Multimedia

And so it begins: Modeled after SXSW Music, Louis Black, Nick Barbaro and Nancy Shafer constructed the first film event in under 3 months. The inaugural offering features eight panel sessions with 36 total speakers and two world premieres.

Film

They can’t contain us: The SXSW Multimedia Conference splits into two separate events, "SXSW Film" and "SXSW Multimedia." World premiere films included The Return Of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A More Perfect Union, The Man With The Perfect Swing and The Underneath, while conference programming was highlighting by speakers Robert Rodriguez and Richard Linklater.

Multimedia

Daytime activities move from the Hyatt to the newly-built Austin Convention Center. The bandana-wearing, über-geek Willie Nelson sings the praises of Microsoft during the closing party at the Austin Music Hall.

SXSW 1996

"For the first time, the Internet was a major presence at the festival, promising to bridge geographical and temporal distances with easy, instant access to information, music and concert broadcasts from around the world. The company booths in the convention hall featured computers hooked up to the World Wide Web, and on-line services like Prodigy and Sonicnet had more music reporters and editors at the convention than most print magazines."

Film

Sterling’s gold: In Dante Harper’s Delicate Art of the Rifle, Bruce Sterling plays a "Non-Linear Weatherman" who tries to impart the complex, unpredictable and chaotic nature of weather, while John Sayles treats SXSW Film to a sneak preview/world premiere of Lone Star.

Multimedia

Small round discs that are easily transferred from one computer to another are clearly the wave of the future! Sample panel titles for the 1996 event include “So You Want to Make a CD-Rom,” “Enhanced CD and CD-Plus” and “CD-Plus from A-Z.”

Multimedia & Interactive

Negativland’s Mark Hosler discusses how yoU-2 can have fun and games with copyright. To create positive vibes that will counter technical malfunctions on his laptop, Jaron Lanier encourages the audience to hum during his interactive Keynote presentation.

Interactive

Total number of panels and presentations at the event increases to 56. First year for the SXSW Web Awards, honoring the best in websites and digital work. Ceremony takes place in lobby of the Austin-based advertising agency GSD&M, in conjunction with the Texas Interactive Media (TIM) Awards.

Photos (click to enlarge)

Music

Notable Speakers: Joe Boyd (Interviewed by Tom Moon of The Philadelphia Inquirer), Greil Marcus (“I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love With You: Hank Williams”), Juan Atkins (“Is Rock Music Becoming Dance Music?”), Right Said Fred’s Richard Fairbrass (“Artists: How We Make Records”), Kramer (“Recording Strategies”), David Byrne and Perry Watts-Russell (“A&R: The Way We Work”), Inspectah Deck (“Getting Heard In Hip-Hop”)

Interactive

During his memorable Keynote presentation, Stewart Brand explains the concepts behind the Long Now Foundation and why we should adopt a 5-digit approach to years (02000 as opposed to 2000). First year of the SXSW Dewey Winburne Community Service Award celebrating technology do-gooders in honor of the man who co-founded this event. NASDAQ hits its Dotcom Boom peak on Monday of SXSW Interactive. Derek Powazek adds the confessional storytelling event known as Fray Cafe to the increasing list of evening activities. More great memories from SXSW 2000 can be found via SapphireBlue

Interactive

"There are thousands of of delegates and journalist, mostly North American, and frankly it’s the best way to spend 10 culture-filled days in the US. It really is that good."

-The Herald, Scotland

DJ Spooky covers the logistics and ethics of remixing content during his Keynote discussion with Ian Clarke. Evan Williams (who years later will co-found Twitter) makes his first SXSW Interactive appearance to talk about his relatively new company Pyra Labs. Burning Man founder Larry Harvey talks about community -- and why showering is overrated.

Interactive

Lawrence Lessig explains the Creative Commons and the importance of a robust public domain. Social activities include the Sexiest Geek Alive pageant and the Iron Webmaster competition (an ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful takeoff on the popular Iron Chef TV series). Entire event still fits comfortably into one wing of the Austin Convention Center.

Interactive

Best-selling author Richard Florida talks about the growing importance of über-creative cities (like Austin) in his Keynote speech. Also part of the Keynote lineup is artificial intelligence innovator Doug Lenat from Austin. Other speakers include Cory Doctorow (who warns of the Hollywood Agenda) and open source advocate Richard Stallman (who delivers an appropriately free-and-open-to-the-public presentation on the opening Friday of the event).

Interactive

Texas opinion writer and political firebrand Molly Irvins introduces Zack Exley / Eli Pariser Keynote presentation, as the 2004 event is dominated by content focused on the upcoming elections. Also keynoting is Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams, blazing the way for the social media explosion that will occur at SXSW Interactive over the next several years. Final year for Bruce Sterling's legendary come-to-my-house party on Cedar Street.

Interactive

Fresh off the "The Tipping Point," best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell graces the Keynote stage – attendees are amazed by his brilliance as well as his hair. Comedian Laura Swisher emcees the SXSW Web Awards.

Interactive

With a nod to the emerging popularity of video games, SXSW ScreenBurn® joins the ever-expanding SXSW Interactive lineup. Mild-mannered Weblog Award emcee Nikolai Nolan thrills the assembled audience by singing an unapologetic cover version of “Stacy’s Blog.” Call it Fountains of Geek! Meanwhile, celebrity bloggers Heather Armstrong and Jason Kottke cover the ethics of over-sharing your personal life as well as pay-to-read revenue models in a fascinating Keynote conversation. Late night on Sixth Street, Limor Fried and Phil Torrone (who will Keynote at the 2007 event) play real-life Frogger with a tricked-out Roomba.

Interactive

In Year 14, SXSW Interactive features 150 panel sessions and more than 450 total speakers. The SXSW PanelPicker® is launched as a means to crowd-source programming proposals from the community. Registrants are thrilled by an addictive new app called Twitter, which won the Blog Category at the 2007 SXSW Web Awards. Little-known author Tim Ferriss gives an energetic presentation about reducing your work load -- shortly thereafter, his book "The Four-Hour Workweek" becomes a national best-seller. A review of SXSW Interactive penned by Dan Fost makes the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle.

SXSW 2008

"In its 22 years, SXSW has grown from a tiny music festival in the Texas capital into a massive, unavoidable media beast that reflects, discusses and showcases trends in culture and media but also often creates them. The trends that have forced massive changes upon the music industry are lamented in some SXSW panel discussions even as they're advanced and improved in others."

Interactive

Underwhelming Mark Zuckerberg Keynote interview on Monday of the event. A day later, the Q&A portion of Frank Warren's emotional Keynote speech features a surprise on-stage marriage proposal. She said "yes"! Daring Fireball's John Gruber speaks on a session titled "Blood, Sweat and Fear: Great Design Hurts." Registrants delight at seeing Jeff Bezos walking the hallways of the Austin Convention Center -- he purchased a registration and attended SXSW without entourage. Cheeseburgers are served to badgeholders at Ben Huh's panel on the last day of the event. Book Readings added to the programming mix.

SXSW 2009

"The U.S. economy is in the grip of recession, but you wouldn't know it from attending the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, a 10-day music, film, and interactive industry networking marathon fueled by massive quantities of beer and barbecue."

World Premiere Film Festival Highlights: 45365 (Ross Brothers), Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (Jessica Oreck), Best Worst Movie (Michael Paul Stephenson), Breaking Upwards (Daryl Wein), Brock Enright: Good Times Will Never Be the Same (Jody Lee Lipes), I Love You, Man (John Hamburg), It was great but I was ready to come home (Kris Swanberg), Trust Us: This Is All Made Up (Alex Karpovsky), True Adolescents (Craig Johnson), Winnebago Man (Ben Steinbauer)

Interactive

Against the backdrop of an extremely shaky US and world economy, the SXSW Accelerator® pitch competition launches to serve the growing startup ecosystem. Klout.com makes it to the finalist round in the “Innovative Web Technologies” category. FourSquare and Gowalla both launch on the same day at SXSW. Big Data makes its first big appearance at SXSW, witness the Nate Silver Keynote interview. Bre Pettis demonstrates a beta version of his MakerBot 3D printer to attendees at various Sixth Street bars. The first ride-sharing service Uber launches.

SXSW 2010

"But for music executives that flocked to the event on Sunday, the 10-day music, film, and interactive industry networking marathon was a chance to live on the razor's edge of technology and glimpse of the industry's changing face."

Interactive

In her Opening Remarks, danah boyd talks about the importance of privacy -- and calls out Facebook and Google for not respecting this value. Siri wins SXSW Accelerator “Innovative Web” category; Foodspotting and GameSalad are also finalists in this pitch competition. Hands-on workshops are added to programming schedule. Stand-up comedian Doug Benson hosts the SXSW Web Awards. 32% of the SXSW community predicts “Location-based technology” as the top trend for the coming year.

Interactive

First year of CNN Grill at SXSW. AirBnB dubbed as the “breakout app" of the event, although the launch of Rock Health also gains significant buzz. Community comes together and creates SXSW4Japan, a movement to help the victims of the devastating tsunami in Japan, raising over $100,000 in just over a week. Group texting applications such as GroupMe and Hashable gain tons of users. Registrants flock to the Apple pop-store on Congress Avenue, as the iPad 2 is released during SXSW. Urgent Genius creates humorous viral video about the growing brand presence in Austin in March.

The inaugural SXSWedu conference preceded SXSW Music, Film and Interactive in March 2011. The event was created with the goal of celebrating innovations in learning and began as a Texas-focused K-12 event before seeing tremendous growth over the next several years.

In fall 2011, the first SXSW Eco conference was held in Austin to create a space for business leaders, investors, innovators and designers to advance solutions that drive economic, environmental and social change.

SXSW 2012

“Part musical festival, part film festival, part tech-head confab, SXSW is a unique event in the pop-culture firmament, bringing massive stars and indie up-and-comers in music, movies, and tech together in the Texas hill country of Austin.”

Interactive

SXSW Interactive introduces Startup Village® as a hub for the startup community. Initially called "Crossover Programming" in 2010, Convergence Programming is officially added for Interactive, Film and Music badgeholders. Jeffrey Zeldman becomes first-ever SXSW Hall of Fame inductee. SXSW Create joins the roster for hacker / maker movement. Instagram's Kevin Systrom is a last-minute addition to the Featured Speaker roster; three weeks after the event, his application is purchased by Facebook for two billion dollars. Pinterest wins “Breakout Digital Trend” at SXSW Interactive Awards.

Grulke Prize Winners: Following the untimely death of SXSW Creative Director Brent Grulke the previous August, the first Grulke Prizes are awarded to Chrvches (Developing Non-US Act), Haim (Developing US Act) and The Flaming Lips (Career Act)

Film

High-brow hedonism: Spring Breakers, Cheap Thrills, Drinking Buddies and Good Ol’ Freda running the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again.

Interactive

SXSW Interactive turns 20 years old and total number of registrants tops out at just above 30,000. Research finds that companies which have participated in SXSW Accelerator have received over $587 million in funding. 2013 marks the first year for the newly-named Gaming Expo (formerly known as ScreenBurn). Aisha Tyler emcees the SXSW Interactive Awards. Space (NASA) and 3D printing emerge as popular themes in PanelPicker. Says Elon Musk during his Keynote interview: "I want to die on Mars, but not on impact." Leap Motion wins “Trend of the Year” at SXSW Interactive Awards. Dates for the SXSW Trade Show move -- the show now begins on Sunday and runs through the end of the day on Wednesday.

In summer 2013, SXSW branched out away from Austin and held the first SXSW V2V conference in Las Vegas. The event brings the startup and venture capital communities together with the creative industries, serving innovators and entrepreneurs from across all the industries at the core of the SXSW Family of events, including technology, music, film, fashion, health, education, sustainability, and more.

Interactive

Privacy and Online Security wins "Trend of the Event" at the SXSW Interactive Awards stemming from buzzed-about talks by Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald and Julian Assange. SXsports launches a three-day track of programming catering to fans, athletes and pop culture. The Gaming Expo introduces the first ever SXSW Gaming Awards, co-emceed by YouTube sensations iJustine and SMOSH. Startup Village maintains steady growth with more International Startups. Accelerator Awards move to Saturday night. It's all good – SXSW Interactive celebrates social do-gooders with Dewey Winburne Community Service Awards and introduces SXeve, a community hub focused on empowering women via enterprise.

Film

Rising up: Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck and Trey Edward Shults’ KRISHA represent two fresh talents on the ascent. SXSW also presented exclusive preview footage of Mad Max: Fury Road, a last minute surprise World Premiere of Furious 7, the North American Premiere of Ex Machina, and the 30th Anniversary Screening of The Breakfast Club.

Interactive

Sunny spring weather plus the opening of the JW Marriott Hotel meant that registrants spread out in downtown Austin in ways that they had not in previous years. In 2015, we also launched the SX Health and MedTech Expo, a two-day event that leverages the momentum of the University of Texas’ soon-to-open Dell Medical School. At a time when the Ellen Pao gender discrimination trial was concluding in San Francisco, “Diversity in Tech” was named “Trend of the Event” at SXSW. Meanwhile, live personal streaming app MeerKat reminded attendees that innovation in the social media space is alive and kicking. Registrants were able to move around the city more conveniently than ever before with the addition of Lyft and Uber.